I love Spring Break, lots of time to write! By far my favourite chapter. It was originally longer but I shortened it.
Chapter #11
8:30 pm
They got back to the palace using Bunny's tunnels. Everyone was in a somber mood. With the flower destroyed, there was nothing anyone could do to save Jack.
"What do we do now?" Tooth asked quietly as Bunny put Paro down but held her by her arms. She sighed,
"We can do nothing more than wait out the time." Paro replied somberly, "We still have about an hour and a half left. That gives us enough time to prepare him for his journey to the next world and say our goodbyes." Paro began to cry and buried her face into Bunny's shoulder, who replied by wrapping her in a hug. As North walked to Paro to comfort her, Rapunzel ran to the lake, stopped right by the edge and screamed. After her throat became too dry to scream, she collapsed onto her knees and cried.
"It's my fault," she thought, "This is all my fault."
9:55 pm
Merida found Rapunzel still sitting at the edge of the lake. She walked to her friend and helped her up by the shoulders. Merida looked at her with worry as Rapunzel's eyes were red from all the crying,
"Come with me." Merida said quietly and grabbed Rapunzel's hand, slowly dragging her along. Rapunzel remained in complete silence the whole way back to the palace. Everyone was scattered around the room but they were all looking at Jack, who had been laid back down on the bench, his staff resting beside him. "Hiccup went to the Pole and got it," Merida explained when she noticed Rapunzel looking at it. Paro turned and looked at Rapunzel. Slowly she walked towards her and grabbed her hand
"If you have anything to say to Jack, I suggest you do it now." Paro said quietly. Rapunzel nodded and both Merida and Paro let go of her hands. Slowly she walked towards Jack, the tears returning to her.
"I've always cried at funerals but this one really takes the biscuit." Pitch was leaning against the wall. Rapunzel felt rage form almost immediately when she saw Pitch. She ran, grabbed one of North's swords and charged at Pitch. Pitch disappeared just before she could stab him, causing the sword to get stuck in the wall. "Not so innocent anymore, are we?" Pitch said as he re-appeared on the other side of the room
"Why are you doing this!? Why do you want to kill Jack so much?!" Rapunzel yelled with a mix of tears. Pitch smiled,
"Revenge, my dear. Revenge." He chuckled and disappeared into the shadows again. Everyone readied their weapons and looked around the room nervously, all of them expecting Pitch to attack
"Rapunzel," Paro said, "If you have anything to say to Jack, say it now. We'll keep Pitch busy."
One minute
Rapunzel turned, with tears in her eyes, and looked at Jack. She walked to him, knelt beside him, and took hold of his hand. She leaned closer to him and spoke in a whisper, her voice breaking with each word.
45 seconds
"Jack, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I did this to you. If I hadn't given you that damned apple none of this would have happened but it did. I should have been the one to eat the apple. I should have been the one who was cursed, not you. I'm so sorry."
20 seconds
More tears appeared but she kept talking "I remember you once asked if we were friends but you were more than a friend to me. You were so much more. Please. Please, don't leave me."
10 seconds
Then she said the one thing she had wanted to tell him for longer than she could remember, "I love you" She placed her hand on his cheek, leant forward and placed her rosy lips on his.
10:00 pm
Rapunzel stopped the kiss and burst into tears, knowing that the love of her life was gone. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and pulled her away from Jack. She looked up at Pitch, who stopped pulling her but still held her.
"As I said, my dear, you're first. " In his empty hand, a knife of black sand appeared. His lifted the knife, ready to murder her. Fear welling up in her she thought,
"Please, not like this again." She closed her eyes. Behind her Paro and Tooth were screaming, Merida yelling at the top of her lungs but no one came to help her. Rapunzel squeezed her eyes and waited for Death to take her. There was a blast of cold air, the grip on her shoulder disappeared and Pitch was screaming with angry and pain. She opened her eyes. Pitch was pinned against the wall, one of his hands trapped by a layer of ice.
"Leave… her…. alone." a voice behind her said weakly. Rapunzel turned around and there was Jack, alive. He was standing, leaning heavily on his staff, his legs slightly shaking. Rapunzel felt as though she could burst with happiness but that disappeared when there was a sound of ice breaking and Pitch roughly grabbing her by her hair.
"That's impossible! That curse has no cure!" he yelled, pulling hard on her hair. She winced and looked at Jack
"You should know by now, Pitch, I'm an impossible person," Jack looked at Rapunzel, his face filled with fear, and took a small, stumbling step forward, using the staff to hold him up, "Let her go, Pitch. Your fight is with me." Pitch smiled and threw Rapunzel to the ground. Rapunzel hit the marble hard, the impact numbing her side. Pitch laughed,
"Fight? Please Frost, you barely have the strength to stand. How will you have the strength to fight or to protect those who are precious to you?" Pitch began to walk towards Jack, the conversation fading from Rapunzel's hearing as she looked at the others. They were all pinned to the wall by Pitch's black sand with no chance of escape. Paro mouthed something to Rapunzel that looked like, "Make him lose his focus."
"Of course!" Rapunzel thought, "If can make him lose his focus somehow, the wall will disappear." She looked back at Pitch who was now standing in front of Jack. Jack said something that Rapunzel couldn't hear but Pitch's reply was a hard slap across his face causing Jack to fall to the floor hard. Rapunzel felt a wave of angry flow through her and she looked around for something she could use as a weapon. She grabbed the closest thing she could find: a fire poker with a small hook. She looked at Jack and saw him wipe his mouth; there was red on his hand. Rapunzel walked slowly towards the two, holding the fire poker like a sword as Pitch leant down, lifted Jack by his throat and held him in the air. Jack grabbed Pitch's wrist in an attempt to loosen the grip on his throat
"You have failed, Jack, to protect the children, your fellow guardians, your friends," Pitch nudged his head in Rapunzel's direction. Jack looked at Rapunzel, who was standing only a few centimetres away, and Pitch's hold on his throat tightened. The winter spirit began to gasp for breath, "even your precious Spring. And now, I can get my revenge." He lifted his knife, a smile appearing on his face. Rapunzel lifted the fire poker and with a yell, buried the hook into Pitch shoulder. Pitch screamed and let go of Jack. Rapunzel removed the hook from Pitch's shoulder and as he turned around to look at her, his eyes flaming, she hit him hard across his face like one would hit a baseball with a bat. Pitch fell to the floor about a meter away. Rapunzel dropped the poker and knelt beside Jack, who was coughing loudly due to the lack of air.
"Are you alright?" Rapunzel asked the fear in her voice could be heard clearly. He looked at her and suddenly fear shot into his face.
"LOOK OUT!" he screamed and grabbed Rapunzel, pushing both of them to the right, the sound of breaking marble echoing through the room. Rapunzel looked to see that Pitch had created his scythe, had swung at the two of them and now it was stuck in the floor where they had been only seconds ago. Pitch withdrew the scythe from the floor and was about to swung again when an arrow flew by him, missing him by less than a millimetre.
"Get back!" Merida yelled aiming another arrow at Pitch as Bunny got out his boomerangs and North his swords. Before Pitch could reply, something big and green snapped itself around his waist and dragged him into the garden. The others turned and saw Paro doing strange movement with her hand, controlling the green thing. Just before Pitch disappeared into the garden, he made the fearlings appear in the room. Paro stopped doing the movements and ran after Pitch,
"Somebody! Come with me!" Paro yelled just before she ran into the garden. Rapunzel got up to follow her but looked at Jack and suddenly became reluctant to leave. Merida and Hiccup knelt down besides Jack
"Go, Rapunzel. We'll take care of him." Hiccup said. Rapunzel looked at Jack, who nodded and mouthed "go". Rapunzel followed Paro, quickly looking over her shoulder to look at Jack one last time. Once in the garden, Rapunzel saw Paro standing by the entrance of the path, with Pitch hovering a few meters in front of her. She lifted her arms which caused white flowers to bloom. When the flowers opened, they gave off a blinding light that got rid of all shadows. She did a swift movement with her hand and thick vines grew over the entrance of the path. There was no escape for Pitch. Paro balled her fist and then relaxed her fingers. The vine released Pitch and he fell to the floor. Paro took a step forward and placed her hands in prayer. She turned and looked at Rapunzel, speaking quietly,
"I'm going to open a portal to the Underworld," she explained, "but I need to keep completely focused to keep the portal open which means you're going to have to push him in but do it quickly. I can only keep it open for so long." Rapunzel gulped but nodded. Paro nodded in return and turned her focus back to Pitch. She closed her eyes and began to chant. She spread her arms and a wind began to blow. She began to chant louder as the wind began to blow harder.
"What are you doing?!" yelled Pitch but Paro didn't respond. He started to walk towards her but Paro was lifted in to the air, her voice towering over the howl of wind. Her eyes, which had turned white, snapped open and the ground began to shake. The ground behind Pitch suddenly collapsed to reveal a deep chasm filled with fire, black smoke, and screaming.
"Now, Rapunzel! NOW!" Paro yelled. Rapunzel stepped forward, grabbed Pitch by his wrists and held him on the edge. He wrung but Rapunzel held on tight.
"You can't defeat me. " He smirked, "There will always be fear. " She looked into his amber eyes,
"I know I can't kill fear but as long as you're around, I will always fight fear! " Then she said the words she never thought she would, "May the Devil take you." and she released his wrists. Pitch screamed, desperately trying to grab hold of something. He grabbed the closest thing his hand could reach. Rapunzel fell down and screamed, digging her nails into the earth. She looked at her feet and saw Pitch clinging on to her ankle, slowly dragging her into the portal with him.
"Paro! Close it! CLOSE IT NOW! "Hiccup yelled, as he ran into the garden with Merida following close behind. Paro began to scream in pain as her power began to drain.
"I CAN'T! "She yelled amidst the pain," Pitch is in the portal and he has hold of Rapunzel!" she groaned loudly, "If I close the portal now, she'll be dragged into the Underworld with him!" She screamed even louder, her hair beginning to turn gray. Rapunzel felt Hiccup grabbing her arm, quickly followed by Merida on the other but Pitch still held on to her tight and would not let go. Then she felt two hands grabbing her by her armpits. She looked up and Jack looked back at her. Pitch shot black sand at Hiccup and Merida knocking both of them back and losing their grip of Rapunzel's arms. Jack pulled with all his might but he was slowly being dragged closer to the portal with Rapunzel. Pitch smiled seeing Jack struggle,
"Like I said, Frost, you can't even protect your precious Spring." Jack removed one of his hands and stretched it out in front of him,
"I can protect her. I can. I would do anything to see her safe. ANYTHING! I WOULD EVEN DIE FOR HER! "Jack yelled and a blast of ice came from his hand. It hit Pitch in his face. Screaming, he let go of Rapunzel's ankle and stumbled down into the darkness of the pit. As the portal began to close, the wind started to blow even harder and the trees began to fall down. Jack pulled Rapunzel close, wrapped his arms around her protectively and leaned over her to protect her head. Rapunzel squeezed her eyes shut, absolutely terrified. They heard trees falling and the wind was howling but they held on tight to each other. And suddenly it was quiet. Jack straightened out but still kept his arms around Rapunzel. The garden looked as though a tornado had gone through it. Trees lying on their sides, completely uprooted, and torn flowers were lying everywhere. Rapunzel looked around at the destruction, fear causing her body to shake.
"Shh. It's alright." Jack whispered while he rubbed her arm. Rapunzel looked at him and felt tears form in her eyes. Not tears of sadness but tears of joy. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him as tight as she could without killing him with tears streaming down her face. He returned the hug and for that one moment, everything was perfect but that moment ended when somebody yelled.
Jack's alive and Pitch is defeated. How can it get any better than this? I experienced several heartmelts and fangirl attacks writing this chapter but it was all worth it. On a scale of 1 to 10 how cheesy was this chapter, with 10 being cheesy-to-the-extreme? Review, follow, favourite
